A court battle has
put Tom Cruise in the hot seat, forcing him to answer questions about his time
away from daughter Suri and his ex-wife Katie Holmes's departure from
Scientology.

In a deposition taken in Los Angeles on Sept. 9 (a
transcript of which was filed publicly), Cruise was questioned by Elizabeth
McNamara, the lawyer for Bauer Publishing, which Cruise is suing for $50 million
over an In Touch
cover story claiming he "abandoned"
Suri after his June 2012 divorce from Holmes.

Cruise acknowledged that he didn't see Suri,
7½, in person for more than
100 days, from Aug. 4, 2012, when they wrapped up a weeklong
father-daughter vacation to Disney World, until that Thanksgiving.

"Unfortunately in this situation
it was impossible" with his intense filming schedule in London on the sci-fi
thriller All You Need Is Kill
, Cruise said.

Cruise said he phoned Suri nearly every day,
though agreed that phone calls are a poor substitute for seeing a child in
person. Talking to a young child on the phone, "you have to work at it. I've
gotten very good at it. I tell wonderful stories," he said. "I
also find that, you know, Suri is a very happy child, and
confident, and has a good sense of herself."

Cruise didn't travel to New York City for
Suri's first day of school that September due
to his work schedule and concerns about the media attention, he said,
adding that Suri had never brought it up.

"If she had asked me to be there, I would
have been there," he said. "I would have worked it out in any way I could." He
said he also couldn't leave the "grueling" movie shoot when Holmes later
suggested he come to New York in October, and other times the
exes couldn't work out scheduling for a visit.

"Things change and there is different
agreements, like in any divorce, where you work out
schedules," he said. "It's just a different set of circumstances. It certainly
does not mean that I've abandoned my daughter."

In the wide-ranging, often contentious
deposition, Cruise's attorney Bert Fields was
on hand as the star was forced to answer questions about everything
from his use of private jets to Scientology.

He revealed that Suri is no longer practicing
the religion. Pressed about whether Holmes left him to "protect" Suri from
Scientology, Cruise responded, "I find that question offensive. … There is no
need to protect my daughter from my religion."

But asked whether Holmes left him in part for
that reason, Cruise said, "that was one of the assertions, yes. …
There are many other aspects to the divorce."

Cruise also was asked about Scientology's
definition of a "suppressive person," which includes, according to a definition on the
church's website, those who publicly renounce Scientology and therefore lose "fellowship with
the Church as well as with other Scientologists."

Cruise said that description was accurate,
but when asked whether the church would consider Holmes to be a suppressive
person, he responded:
"That is a distortion and simplification of the matter. I don't want
to just give an oversimplification of religious doctrine.”

He acknowledged
that his older kids, Isabella and Connor, whose mom is Nicole Kidman,
haven't had contact with Holmes since the split.